Breezeblock Park

Written by Willy Russell in the 1970s and said to be one of his best comedies, “Breezeblock Park” was originally produced at the Everyman Theatre Liverpool in 1975. The play looks at cultural and philosophical questions of 1970’s Britain in-depth yet amusingly through the life of one family living on a council estate in Liverpool over the Christmas period, by observing the ups and downs of family life through their relationships, arguments, idiosyncrasies, one-upmanship and the keeping up with the Jones’s syndrome. Russell highlights that despite all the arguments and secrets they still think they are a close-knit family. However, things are brought to a head when Sandra, Betty's daughter who has discovered, red wine, books and political idealism and is no longer content with her working-class family life, tells the family that she is pregnant by her posh student boyfriend Tim. Things go downhill even more when she informs them that she is leaving home to live with Tim and not getting married which causes mayhem. In some ways the characters reminded me very much of the television program The Royal Family.

Directed by Hilda McAughey this play was a really enjoyable evening's entertainment with great larger than life characters and witty one-liners. The cast worked together very well with very good comic timing which is important in this type of play. They included an excellent comedic performance from Bridgett Welch as Betty who was very proud of her new three-piece suite, the price of which went higher depending on who she was talking to, and her antics with the vibrator (a Christmas present) which she thinks is a posh drinks mixer brought the house down. Bridgett was complimented very well by Steve Ryan as her long suffering husband Syd, who was supposed to have lots of medical problems which were actually dreamt up by Betty as she had once been a nursing auxiliary and knew better than the Doctor, they made a very believable couple. Libby Cowburn as their daughter Sandra produced a solid performance as someone frustrated at trying to express the changing views, opinions and opportunities for younger people to her family at a time when the gap between the generations was widening. Her Aunty Vera was played with just the right amount of dimness, sympathy and comedy by Debbie Wells and was a likable character, you got the impression that although her character was not particularly bright she had the family weighed up. Debbie was also complimented very well buy Phil Quinn as Tommy her husband and Betty's brother, Phil produced a good strong character who was a bit of a Jack the lad who enjoyed the odd drink. Reeny, Betty’s sister thought she was a cut above the rest of the family as they lived at the posher end of the estate, she was played very well with a touch of snobbery by Lorraine Ryan and her husband the loud know it all Ted was played by Chris Hill producing a very good characterization of someone who could be a bit annoying. The relationship with their son John was rather ambiguous as the audience are not sure if he had genuine psychological problems or his parents were just overpowering and controlling, John was played very well by Matthew Hutcheon his character was subdued most of the time but came to life very well when he tried to stick up for Sandra. Toby Hewitt as Tim, Sandra's posh student boyfriend made a good job of looking perplexed by the family dynamics and the general proceedings, he was probably wondering what he was letting himself in for. Accents were excellent as were diction and clarity of words meaning the story could be followed easily by the audience. But just a constructive point this is quite a long play so the action needed to be taken at a good pace in order for the comedy to work and to keep the audience’s attention, unfortunately the pace did slow down at times and a few prompts were taken, however happily this did not appear to spoil the audience’s overall enjoyment of this very entertaining production.

This play is in two acts, the first act is set in the sitting room and kitchen of Betty’s house, the second act is set in the sitting room and kitchen of Reeny's house. The stage crew, set construction, along with sound and lighting must be congratulated for their excellent work and superb sets, as the props furniture and wallpaper were changed for each house, the attention to detail was spot on and fitted the period excellently. Costumes were also just right for the period, adding to the production and Tommy’s flares were a great comedic touch.

This was a very funny play which had the audience in fits of raucous laughter, it also has a great deal of pathos and some heart-warming drama especially towards the end which was well played by Bridget and the rest of the cast.

Well done to Director Hilda McAughey and to everyone involved in bringing this really good entertaining funny production to the stage. Thank you for inviting us we had a lovely evening.

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